Oct 5, 2008 - 7:01 PM
0 shoutsPRAGUE, Czech Republic (Ticker) -- Perhaps Barry Melrose should have known better.
After spending more than a decade as a television analyst, the 52-year-old Melrose opted to return to the bench as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who finished the 2007-08 season with an NHL-worst 31 wins.
And after the Lightning dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions to the New York Rangers this weekend - and were outshot, 80-40, in the process - the normally relaxed coach was rather vocal with his displeasure.
"We're too easy to play against. Until that changes, we're going to have trouble," Melrose said. "Our goaltenders (Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig) are great. We have a lot of skill on our team, but skill doesn't mean anything if you don't work hard, and we're being outworked."
This year's rendition of the Lightning is a far cry from the version in 2003-04, when Tampa Bay had a franchise-best 106 points and went on to claim its lone Stanley Cup title.
And with all due respect to Vincent Lecavalier, this year's club doesn't have Wayne Gretzky, who was a proud member of the Los Angeles Kings during Melrose's three seasons with the club in 1992-95.
In Melrose's first season, the Gretzky-led Kings advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the only time in franchise history.
While talk of the Stanley Cup is, shall we say, premature for the Lightning, Melrose spoke out on what he saw during Sunday's action.
"We're looking to make a perfect play, but the New York Rangers don't look to make a perfect play," Melrose said. "Look at our goal (by Adam Hall) we just shot it. We have to get back to a simple mindset. Great players that keep it simple are very tough to play against. That's what we have to get to doing more of."
